Tiller Extensions on the Beach

While I was in Oregon this weekend playing in a little boat, Tillerwoman went to the beach with the Massachusetts tiller extensions.

The photo reminded me of this photo from a 2013 post.

Wait.

1, 2, 3.

1, 2, 3, 4.

There's another tiller extension in the 2015 photo who wasn't there before!

How did that happen?

Sons of a Son of a Sailor

All three of our grandsons spent the day at our house yesterday.

Life is good.

Random Things I Am Thankful For This Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for…

My sailing friends 

especially the ones who drove 

down from Massachusetts so many times 

to train with me in Rhode Island this year

The RS Aero 

perhaps the best new singlehanded sailing boat 

since the Laser

Cup-holders on boats 

The winter solstice

Trapezoid courses

Form N-400

MagSafe

Snow

My blog readers 

especially those of you who 

take the trouble to leave a comment 

or send me an email

Waking up

Sunrises

Mangoes

Papayas

Marley

Rum

 especially rum after sailing 

The farmers, growers, fishers, brewers, and winemakers 

of New England 

The Oxford comma 

The Final Beat

IEEE 802.11

Rule 43.1(a) 

Command-Shift-4

The Leinster Burger 

at Aidan's Pub 

Beer 

especially beer after sailing 

All the people who work in restaurants and bars and pubs 

Even More Extreme Sudoku

by

Antoine Alary 

Six little people

Dogfish Head

Just another summer week in Rhode Island...

On Monday afternoon I went sailing by myself in Bristol Harbor, sailing out of the harbor beyond Poppasquah Point. It was blowing 15-18 knots from the South and there were some nice big juicy waves. Call me anti-social if you like, but I get a special kind of kick from sailing on my own in perfect Lasering conditions. No competition. No need to follow the crowd. Just pure selfish hedonism.

Tuesday evening I trained with a couple of other sailors in Bristol in 10-15 knots from the South, doing windward leeward races with about a half mile beat. The first couple of races I couldn't seem to get my act together, not hiking properly, taking many waves over the bow, filling the cockpit up with water. I got angry with myself and in the next two race started sailing with more intensity, hiking hard, focusing on every wave upwind and bearing off to avoid the sharpest wave fronts. Surprisingly I won both races. I was so pumped (and tired) that I decided to call it a day and sail back to the beach. My two companions followed my lead in spite of their initial protestations that they wanted to do another race. That first glass of Maibock at Redlefsens never tasted so good!

On Thursday a bunch of us sailed at Third Beach, Newport (not in Newport) in about 15-18 knots, more W than S. We ended up doing a long windward leeward course right across the Sakonnet River. For some reason my heart wasn't really in it. Don't know why. The conditions were at least as good as Monday or Tuesday but I just wasn't feeling it. But the first glass of IPA at the Coddington Brewery tasted pretty good anyway.

The weekend was the date for the two-day John Bentley Regatta at New Bedford Yacht Club always one of my favorite regattas. But then I discovered that Sunday was also the day for the joint birthday party for my two eldest grandsons, Aidan (turning 6) and Owen (4). I couldn't miss that! Although I can't imagine what my son was thinking when he decided to let his wife give birth twice in the middle of the sailing season! Didn't he think ahead to the clashes of birthday parties and regatta dates? Thank the FSM that all my other 4 grandkids' birthdays are in colder months.

Where was I? Where am I? Oh yes, whether to sail on Saturday. I could have done one day of the John Bentley Regatta but that seemed to be a bit pointless. Then when I received a report on the regatta on Sunday evening, I wished I had. Saturday turned out to be the best weather of the regatta with a classic Buzzards Bay SW sea breeze of 15-18 gusting 20, sunshine and whitecaps. Bummer. Still I did enjoy the party on Sunday and especially the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA that my son was serving at the party.

Two great sails.

One OK sail.

One missed opportunity.

One party.

Three cold beers.

Just another summer week in Rhode Island.

What Keeps Me Young

My grandkids make me laugh.

Isabel (2) was given a new sled towards the end of the winter.

Where is she going today?

Is she looking for snow?

Or does she think it's a boat?

Owen (3) broke his arm this week.

He was very brave at the hospital.

Here he is, having a bath, keeping his cast dry with a bread bag.

A bread bag?

My grandkids make me laugh.

Laughing keeps me young.

How to Get Killer Starts in Laser Races

Last Thursday evening there was another webinar organized by Javier "Rulo" Borojovich, the head coach at the Laser Training Center in Cabarete. This one was about Starting Technique and featured as guest expert, UK Laser sailor Nick Thompson, currently ranked by ISAF as #5 Laser sailor in the world.

Nick Thompson

God knows I need to improve my starts but unfortunately - well fortunately really -Tillerwoman and I had agreed to babysit the four Massachusetts tiller extensions at the designated hour for the webinar while their parents went out on a well-deserved night on the town in Boston which was somehow earned by my daughter-in-law's blogging efforts. I think I mentioned before that she is the successful blogger in the family. People actually give her things like money and nights out on the town in Boston for her blogging. I don't know where I'm going wrong.

Where was I? Where am I? Oh yes babysitting the Massachusetts tiller extensions.

4 grandkids randomly doing stuff

 on a couch that isn't very level

So as I really really need to improve my starts, and as I was clearly not going to be able to concentrate on the webinar while four grandkids were running around the house pretending to be a ballerina or monster trucks or whatever it is they are supposed to be, and bouncing off the walls and singing songs about royals or tigers or making monster truck noises, and clamoring for something to eat or refusing to eat what is put in front of them, in other words just kids being kids… I asked Rulo if I could have a look at a recording of the webinar at some later date. And he agreed.

So once I had recovered from the babysitting experience (only joking kiddos - I always love spending time with you) and the terrible awful disgusting thing that happened just after their parents came home from their bloggy night out in Boston (you really don't want to know) I settled down quietly at home to watch the recording of the webinar and learn about starting technique from Rulo and Nick.

Rulo's presentation and Nick's expert contributions covered everything you would want to know about getting killer starts in Laser races including, how to decide where on the line to start, how to hold your position on the line, how to create a leeward gap, how to accelerate at the start, and how to hold your lane after the start.

Of course a lot of this is standard stuff that you will hear at any starting clinic or can read in any good book about Laser sailing. But there were also quite a few useful tips and hints that I hadn't heard before such as…

• Why Nick doesn't start in the middle of the line very often but why Robert Scheidt does and where someone who doesn't have very good boat speed (I think he was talking about me) should start.
• A trick on how to spot the RC boat at the end of the line when the view is blocked by sails.
• The importance of checking "drift rate."
• How to find a gap on the line in the last 30 seconds before the start (with a video showing Nick pulling this off to perfection!)
• Six tips to minimize leeward drift.
• Three ways to create a leeward gap.
• Five keys to protecting your gap.
• A trick to confuse the judges. Sssshhh. Don't tell anyone.
• Three best ways to practice starting.
• And much much more.

So thanks to Rulo and Nick for an excellent webinar.

And thanks to Emily, Aidan, Owen and Andrew for being good kids and so much fun (apart from that terrible awful disgusting thing that happened after their parents came home.)

The next webinar will be on 27 March and will be about upwind speed in light and medium winds with Laser Olympic Bronze Medalist Rasmus Myrgren from Sweden as guest expert. You can sign up here.
       

Grandsons in Snow

 

Tiller Extensions on the Beach

The three oldest tiller extensions are at the beach this week.

We will be joining them for a couple of days later in the week.

Why do human beings like the beach so much?

I'm a Mess

Yesterday, Pandabonium of Sweet Bluesette published a thoughtful and inspiring post on the subject of Winning. You should read it.

Panda sails the only Lido 14 (so far) in Japan with his wife. He doesn't sail to compete. He and his wife sail purely for fun, for the pleasure of each other's company, and to improve their sailing skills. They seem very content with the role of sailing in their lives and their approach to it.

In the post Panda talks about his attitudes to competition in his youth, and reminds us of an example from the Olympics of an athlete who won the hearts of people all over the world by demonstrating perseverance against adversity; a real "winner" even if he didn't come away with a medal.



I was touched by his post, but surprised at the end when he gave a shout-out for this blog and wrote of my "sensible attitude toward racing" and my knowing "what really makes his life worthwhile."

Really?

It doesn't feel like that from where I sit.



In contrast, I don't feel that I am very sensible at all about my approach to sailing and racing, and am always confused and conflicted about how to balance the things that make life worthwhile.

I swing back and forth from one extreme to another.

I tell myself I am one thing and act like I am another.



I write a blog about Laser sailing and about how I am trying to become a better Laser sailor and about my Laser racing.

But I am always being pulled away from Laser sailing by other enthusiasms, and often by my own laziness.



Some years I am very competitive and sail lots of regattas and even do some frostbite racing.

And other years I seem to have very little appetite for racing at all.



Some years I like to travel all over the world to race.

And other years it just seems like the rewards of that will not be worth the cost in money and effort and time.



Some times I enjoy sailing for the sheer pleasure of it, the enjoyment of solitude in wind and waves and water.

And other days I miss an opportunity to enjoy such a sailing experience because I convince myself it's too cold or too hot, or too windy or not windy enough.



I enjoy the company of other sailors both on the water and afterwards over a beer or two.

But sometimes I pass up on opportunities to meet up with friends for sailing. Last weekend was a perfect example. I could have had a fun sail on Friday with friends on Buzzards Bay but I went for a long run in the heat instead and was too tired to do anything else for the rest of the day. Then on Saturday I could have gone racing with the same friends, but I stayed at home and played with my grandkids instead.



The truth is I am not as committed to sailing as I would need to be if I really wanted to improve my racing skills significantly.

The truth is that there are other things in life, like family and running and gardening and just relaxing, that often get in the way of sailing.



Bottom line: I'm a mess.



On the other hand...

Everyone has to balance the demands for their time. Work, family, recreation, exercise, travel, relaxation. I have it better than most. I don't have to do the first thing on that list any more. And I have four amazing, fascinating little people in my life, Isabel, Owen, Aidan and Emily, my grandkids.

One of the first posts on this blog was called Focus.

Perhaps it has taken me eight years of blogging to realize that the secret of a happy life might be more about balance than focus?

Maybe that's what Panda was trying to tell me?

Cracked!

The day wasn't supposed to end like this.

In the morning we were babysitting our two totally amazing, awesome, handsome grandsons in Massachusetts. I had checked beforehand with my daughter-in-law that we would be able to leave as soon as she finished work at lunchtime. I wanted to get back to Rhode Island in time to go sailing this afternoon.

We drove back to Rhode Island.

I hitched up the boat trailer and drove to Bristol.

I rigged my Laser.

I was just about to get changed into my sailing gear when I looked closely at my gooseneck.

Hmmm. That's not good.

There was a crack in the gooseneck fitting on the mast that extended about two thirds up its length.

Hmmm. I wonder if that's why I have been hearing ominous cracking sounds from the mast area recently?

If the gooseneck broke off completely while I was two miles upwind from my launch area, it would definitely ruin my day.

So I derigged my boat.

I took the photo above.

I called our local Laser shop to see if they had a gooseneck fitting in stock. They didn't but they might be able to get one from the factory next door, but the factory was closed for the day, so I will have to check back in the morning. If they don't have one I can always buy one online, or even reuse the old one that is on the mast that I broke three years ago, that I still have.

I drove back home.

Good job I wasn't planning to race anywhere this weekend.

Youngest grandchild, amazing, awesome, beautiful Isabel is coming to visit.

She can help me drilling out the rivets and putting on the new gooseneck.

Life is good.

A Good Friday

Review of 2012

2012 was another funny old year...


In January I went out racing with the Newport Laser Frostbite fleet early in the month and had a very confusing day which I wrote about at Say What You Like About The Deaf. This was also the month that I accidentally got into one of those stupid Internet fights with some hip, young bloggers selected to cover the Volvo Ocean Race in Abu Dhabi. Why do some people not understand my sense of humor? Anyway I forgot about all that nonsense by jetting off to the Laser Center in Cabarete with a bunch of local Laser sailing friends for Just Another Week in Paradise. Aaah! I feel like I may need another Cabarete break soon.

In February I had a day out in Boston and wrote Two Things about the New England Boat Show. And in the depths of the New England winter I was dreaming about the  Top 9 Sailing Destinations on the Planet. Didn't sail a Laser even once. Ugh!

In early March, I went down to Florida with some sailing friends for a 4 day Laser sailing clinic at Kurt and Meka Taulbee's SailFit. We had a blast and I wrote about it at Mashers Gone Wild. In other news I was philosophizing on 7 Reasons Why Human Beings Love The Beach. March must have been comparatively mild because I did go Laser sailing locally three times too.

For reasons that seem to have slipped my memory, I only sailed my Laser once in April, and even that day was a pretty pathetic attempt as I had to invent 30 Reasons Why I Only Sailed 3 Races Today. On the blog we had a group writing project about sailing destinations and, thanks to some inspiration from Anna Railton I wrote the ultimate, definitive Laser Sailing: The Rules.

Early in May I went out for a Tuesday evening sail in somewhat windy conditions and hurt my back so badly that it basically screwed up the rest of my season. I wrote about it at Scary Play and Playing Hurt.  In fact for some crazy reason I was writing posts on the theme of "play" every day in May. Two of my favorites are Playing with Dad and Playing with Grandkids.

In June I eased rather slowly into Laser sailing again, not wanting to make my back injury any worse. You can read about it at Back. We had a group writing project on photography for bloggers which elicited an amazing response. And Tillerwoman and I had A Nice Day Out In Newport watching some chaps in helmets race catamarans.

In July I sailed my Laser nine times but the highlight of the year was definitely the afternoon when I took my granddaughter sailing for the first time. Read about it at Sailing with Grandkids - The Hook and When Daddy Was a Little Boy. I love my grandkids, of course, but I also wrote about another love of mine in A Love Story.


In August I sailed my Laser nine times too, including the three day Buzzards Bay Regatta which (unusually) had great sailing winds every day. I was working pretty hard - see When I'm 64 - but was still nursing my back injury by skipping some of the later races each day. I also wrote a long rambling post about different ways of Learning concluding that my favorite way is the fish and chips and beer method.


In September I sailed the New England Masters at the start of the month, always one of my favorite regattas. But I was "knackered" as we say in real English after only two races on Day 1, (definitely wasn't fit this summer) but I did manage to complete all the races on Day 2. It's sad to say that my 2012 racing season was so messed up by the slow recovery from my early season back problem, that that was the first day at a regatta that I had been able to finish all the races. Oh well, better late than never. Later in the month Tillerwoman and I headed off on a trip to visit family in England and then on to the Mediterranean for some sailing. Somehow I also managed to find the time to write one of those rambling philosophical posts about Sailing and Luck.


We spent the first half of October at one of my favorite places, Minorca Sailing. I raced a lot and won sometimes. I did gazillions of drills and learned a lot from the instructors. Some days I just had a blast on my own. I actually sailed Lasers on 14 consecutive days, sometimes twice a day. I guess my back was finally better? On my return home I sailed in my last regatta of the season, the Fat Boys in Bristol, completed all the races and actually managed to come 3rd and 5th in the final two races. Wow. I finally got back to form just as the season was ending? Such is life.

In November I did a bit of frostbiting at Duxbury and Newport, and finally worked out, after over 30 years, why I still persist in sailing a Laser even though it's hard and I have never been very good at it.

"If it's amazing, it won't be easy. 

If it's easy, it won't be amazing. 

 If it's worth it, you won't give up. 

If you give up, you're not worthy."

 (with apologies to Bob Marley who almost said this.)

December brought some more frostbiting at Newport and then off for ten days at the Bitter End Yacht Club where I received some very sad news.

When I counted up how many days I had sailed a Laser in 2012 I discovered that the total was 64. Not too shabby (but still a long way from my old aspiration to make it to a 100 days one year.) In spite of the back injury leading to an incredibly below average summer of Laser racing and training for me, I made up a lot of days on our trips to the DR, Florida and the BVI, and especially with that 14 days of consecutive Laser sailing in Menorca.

There were some great days of sailing in 2012, but that day in July when I sailed with my granddaughter for the first time was the best of all...

Happy New Year to all my readers.

Small Craft Advisory

Mount Hope Bay Sunset

The Tillercottage looks out over Mount Hope Bay, the north-eastern arm of Narragansett Bay.

On Wednesday evenings in the summer we can usually watch the yachts of Tiverton Yacht Club racing on the bay.

Last night there were no boats on the bay. Apparently summer is over. At least for some sailors.

But there was a fairly decent sunset.



Earlier in the day Tillerwoman and I had been babysitting our 2-year-old grandson Owen while his parents were at work.

Before putting him down for his afternoon nap, I "read" to him from a picture book which had all kinds of vehicles in it.

Diggers and firetrucks and motorcycles and garbage trucks. Stuff all little boys love.

There were also some boats. A racing yacht. A trawler. A tugboat.

I talked to Owen about each boat and what it was used for, and ended each description by saying, "And when you are at Granddad's house you can see boats like that on Mount Hope Bay."

Before I had finished he was sleepily repeating, "Mount Hope Bay. Mount Hope Bay."

I always think it's a big breakthrough when each of the grandkids learns to add "Mount Hope Bay" to his or her vocabulary.

Then I sang Wheels on the Bus and rubbed his back as Owen drifted off to sleep to dream of tugboats and trawlers and racing yachts.

Life is good.

Looking for Mermaids

Betrayed!

Our family vacation on Cape Cod last month was wonderful... except for one thing. 

I discovered that there is a subversive in the family. Someone who either doesn't know or doesn't care that I am the leader of the campaign to erase the scourge of the foul-tasting "snack" called Uncrustables from the face of the earth.

Doesn't she read my blog?

Isn't she aware that I exposed the diabolical Uncrustables plot back in 2007?

Yes, dear reader. It's hard to believe but one day I opened the fridge at our vacation home and found inside.....

THIS!!!!!

AAAAARRGGHHHH!!!!

Yes, apparently one of my daughters-in-law had sneaked some Uncrustables into the refrigerator without my permission. What was she thinking?

Wait. It gets worse.

She feeds them to my grandson.

And he appears to like them!!!!!!

Owen eating vile-tasting "snack" 

made by the evil Smuckers empire

Where did I go wrong?

Tiller Extensions

Granddad - We've Run Aground

Owen

Grandson Owen

Two years old

Son of a son of a blogger

Vera, Chuck and Dave - and Lobster Chow Mein

It was my birthday on Friday.

My son and his wife and their three kids aged 6, almost 4, and 2 came down to see us.

It was the best kind of birthday present. My grandchildren are one of the greatest joys of my life these days.

My son and his wife were kind enough to leave the entertainment of the grandchildren to Tillerwoman and me while they attended to important stuff they needed to do on their computers.

So we played and played and played.

The kids played on our swing set and picked raspberries and blueberries in Tillerwoman's garden - and immediately ate them all of course.

We played card games and board games.

We played with toy cars.

There was cooking.

There was paint.

There was drawing with chalk all over my drive.

For dinner on Friday we all went out to dinner at Evelyn's.

One of their "signature" dishes is Lobster Chow Mein.

I love lobster. I quite like chow mein. But the combination always sounded kind of weird to me and I had never plucked up the courage to try it before.

I tried it.

It was weird.

But when the waitress asked me afterwards if I had enjoyed it I gave a noncommittal answer.

"I can finally cross it off my bucket list. Now that I've had Evelyn's Lobster Chow Mein I can die happy!"

All the adults laughed.

My 6 year old granddaughter, sitting right next to me, looked glum and said, "I can't laugh at that."

I had made her sad by talking about dying. She didn't know it was just an expression.

Our visitors stayed the night and all the kids came into our bed on Saturday morning and we read some books together.

Some of my friends were planning to go sailing on Buzzards Bay on Saturday but by the time our visitors left, it was too late for me to go and join them.

That's OK. My grandkids are even more fun than sailing.

By the way, my grandchildren are not really called Vera, Chuck and Dave. That's a line from the Beatles' song When I'm Sixty Four.  "Grandchildren on my knee - Vera, Chuck and Dave."

I turned 64 on Friday.

Life is good.

I think I'll take a nap now.